Mannequin Amputees
by akajanedoe
Summary: Years before Steve had met Bucky were filled with grief and funnily enough, an intelligent raven-haired bombshell who never attended a day of school in her life and yet could talk highly trained scientists into circles. Steve had always wanted to enlist in the army from a young age, what he however didn't expect was when she enlisted right alongside him, skirt and all.
1. Sing, Sing, Sing

**A/N- Alright, so I know their are quite a few fics about a woman signing up for the army under the guise of a man during Captain America, but I love these so much I decided to give mine a try. Constructive criticism as always is appreciated but if you flame me I will publicly embarrass you.**  
**With no restraint. I will essentially stuff your metaphorical locker to the brim with tampons so that they fall out when you open the door. See how that works? You be an ass, I be an even bigger one.**

* * *

For Roslyn life was a gigantic puddle of uncertainty. The good parts were slightly warmer than the others but as a whole, her life was wishy washy and smelled like wet dog. Not exactly what attracts men like bees to flowers.  
When she was nine her mother abandoned her in front of a poorly taken care of orphanage with too many children and not enough food.  
Being a time during the great depression, donations and funding were few and far in between. Which isn't to say she was treated unfairly by the matrons there- quite the contrary in fact- but as it were life was often dark and dank, full of need and broken dreams.  
During childhood, parents give their children the notion that the world is mostly made up of sunshine and good intentions and that as long as you treat others fairly all will work out in the end.  
Roslyn learned from a young age that this notion was as far from the truth as humanly possible, and prolonging the inevitable stroke of reality was simply a waste of effort.  
So while some children played in the streets with neighbors and were given love and nurturing from their mothers, Roslyn stayed inside, learning from the precious few books the orphanage possessed and attending a small job as a clerk in a nearby grocery store from the age of eleven to help save up funds for a future home.

From the small, chipped window of the room she shared with four other children in the orphanage, she often watched as the slightly more fortunate children played outside and sang songs with each other alongside a nearby radio.

Roslyn never sang. Singing was something people did when they were happy, and while she had a handful of memories when she was truly happy she didn't spend them singing to music.

So while mothers sang their children to sleep, Roslyn tucked herself into bed and drifted into oblivion; completely and utterly alone.

Compared to some, her life wasn't all too difficult, but like any human being it always seems as if you have it the worst when you are the one experiencing it. So while she could never afford to go to school, she asked a few of the older children how to and managed to surpass them eventually in terms of literacy. Unlike many people during this time, Roslyn was capable of writing and math, spending every spare moment away from work reading books and soaking up a much as possible, in hopes of surviving the cold and univiting world she was acquainted with. For a while, she lived her life to the best of her ability although her social skills were slowly suffering from dissuse.

On one briskly cold winter morning everything changed.

It was her fifteenth birthday and many girls her age had left or were planning to leave the orphanage in hopes of starting a family. Roslyn was most certainly not of this mindset.

Madame Ainsworth had kindly asked Roslyn to retrieve the morning paper from the front steps of the orphanage. Roslyn had laced on her only pair of boots and borrowed a cloak from one of the boys in the room next to hers to collect the paper, the cold winter air of Brooklyn was simply too cold to venture out into unprotected, even for only a moment. She had gently turned the knob of the door carefully, mindful of how delicate the knob had become after years of neglect and pushed the door open hesitantly, stepping out slowly into the chilly exterior of the only place that ever resembled a home to her.

However, she got a little more than she bargained for when she stepped out from behind the door. There, with ears a cherry red from the cold, stood a scrawny young man with kind blue eyes wearing a heavy coat and scarf holding the morning paper in his hands and shivering from the cold.

"Um, excuse me miss. I was coming up the path when I saw the paper, I figured I might as well bring it in since I was coming this way anyway." He nervously twitched, handing her the paper gently with a wavering smile on his face. Roslyn stopped to get a good look at him.

He was alone, and seemingly just as weathered and poor as she, seemingly not a threat. Roslyn pushed the door open slightly more and beckoned him inside with a small, grateful smile.

She took the paper gratefully from his hands and guided him inside. "Are you here to visit someone?"

The boy visibly flinched and shook his head. "No, my mother passed on last night. I have no where else to turn to." Roslyn's eyes softened slightly but she just nodded. So he wasn't just a visitor.

"Well then you best follow me then, I will show you to the head matron." She led him through the halls and finally stopped in fornt of weathered oak doors, stopping and turning to ook at him again. "Here we are, you will need to expalin your situation to Madame Kennedy." She told him somewhat detachedly.

She looked down at her hands and spoke again, "What is your name?"

The boy smiled slightly at her, "Steve, Steve Rogers." Roslyn nodded and bid him goodbye before she turned on her heel and swept to the mess hall, the newspaper in hand. It was only later that she realized she hadn't mentioned her own name.


	2. House of the Rising Sun

It had been a week since Roslyn had met the newcomer, Steve.

After Steve had met Madame Kennedy the kindly head matron had lead him to the boys' dorm: a long and old section of the orphanage. The walls were an evenly toned beige, the paint peeling at the corners from neglect and insufficient funding. The floor was a darkly stained inexpensive pine, extremely dented and worn from years of childrens' abuse; shoe scuffs, gouges and stains spread throughout the lightly coloured material.

Although the orphanage was worn and battered it was clean and welcome feeling, despite the hard times the occupants edured the matrons tried their hardest to make the children feel comfortable and happy. Steve followed meekly behind the weathered matron with reluctant curiousity, not quite sure what to make of his new home.

The matron led him to a room stuffed full with bunk-beds, where six other boys already sat, chatting amongst one another. The room was modestly sized as it was, not factoring in the beds squished against the walls. Madame Kennedy wrapped smartly against the door to gain their attention.

The room housed boys of most ages, the youngest a mere four years while the oldest around 16. At the matron's knock the boys al turned and looked at the door, all conversations dropping instantly. The 6 pairs of eyes staring at him unnerved Steve, he shuffled a little nervously and rocked back on his heels while looking at the floor docilely. "Boys, this is a new boy to our home, Steve Rogers. You are to treat him like a brother as always." The matron smiled slightly and swept from the corridor, leaving Steve in her wake to confront his new roommates.

Steve shuffled inside and left the door ajar, unsure what to do. One of the boys pointed to one of the lonely bunk beds furthest from the door, secluded from the others. He nodded slightly and made his way over to the bed.

The younger children backed away from where he sat as if he were diseased. The boys near his age shot him dirty looks, as if they resented his very presence because he was encroaching on their territory: in a way that was exactly what he was doing.

After he made his way to his bed they other occupants of the room ignored him in favour of whatever they had been doing before he had shadowed their doorway. Steve folded in on himself, staring out the singular window and watching the children outside play in the rain, wishing he wasn't sick so that he could've been like them when he was younger.

Roslyn sat in the window seat of the decrepit library the orphanage had attempted to piece together. She always saw the library as her solace: many children couldn't read so it didn't receive many visitors, making it the ideal hide-out for the anti-social person Roslyn was.

She was paging through an old favourite book of hers- Shakespeare's Midsummers Night Dream, her mind drifting from the books pages as her eyes found themselves fixated on the small man, Steve, who had entered the library and sat at one of the lonely table, a sketchbook in his hands, a pencil laced between his fingers. He sat focused on the page the book was open to, likely not even aware that he wasn't alone.

Roslyn eventually grew tired of pretending to ignore him and crept to his side, crossing to the other side of the table and pulling the chair back before sitting down gracefully, smoothing out her skirt before returning to her book.

Steve didn't even seem to notice her presence, absorbed in his work. It wasn't until she looked up form her page and cleared her throat that he finally took note of her.

"Oh, hello." Steve looked at her before quickly looking away, not sure how to speak to her.

"Do you draw often?" Roslyn asked curiously. She may not be talented at the art, but she was always a fan of artists.

Steve shook his head slightly, opening his mouth to say something before quickly snapping it shut. He thought for a few minutes before finally replying, albeit carefully, "Not really. Sometimes it just helps me escape for a while."

Roslyn nodded silently in agreement, that she could relate to. "Books are my escape, well that and music but we hardly ever listen to it here, most people are just too busy."

Steve gave her a side-long glance and smiled lightly, "Too busy for music? There's no such thing!"

Roslyn chuckled and sighed, if only that were true.

Steve chose that moment to pipe up, "Sorry, you never told me your name?"

Roslyn blushed a little and straightened her skirt with fluttering hands. "Roslyn Maria Winchester. That's the name that was written on the card in my blankets when my mother left me here. I was too young to remember." Roslyn wasn't quite sure why she gave him a sob story to accompany her name, she didn't

usually tell anyone about her past. There was simply something about him that put your mind at ease.

Steve's eyes were soft and sympathetic. "I'm sorry," He said a little awkwardly.

"It's nice to meet you Roz."

Roslyn arched an eyebrow at his pet name. "Pardon? Don't think I've ever been called that before."

Steve blushed profusely and attempted to backtrack, "Oh, uh I didn't mean anything by it, it's just your name is very pretty and all but-" he rambled.

At this Roslyn couldn't help but laugh. "It's alright, I actually like it. Roz, hmm I could get used to it." She grinned to herself, not at all offended by her new nickname.

"You don't talk to girls very often, do you?" Roz smiled, her question more of a statement.

Steve looked at the wall behind her and let out a laboured sigh, "Haven't had much cause to. Not many girls want to talk to the little guy."

"I assure you that I am one of the few that do, in that case." Roz stated finally.

Steve looked back at her, straight in the eyes and they both smiled. Maybe life in this dank little hole might be more manageable.


	3. Angels

As time passed Roz and Steve only grew closer.

The nervous young man quickly grew more confident around Roz and learned more about her than anyone else he had ever met. As years blurred past the two best friends, tthe orphanage began to look even more ancient, until they eventually shut it down when Steve and Roz were 18.

Both young individuals already worked full time so they simply used some of their hard-earned money to rent an apartment together in east Brooklyn, both halfing the rent to help pay the bills.

Roz and Steve's friendship had only grown stronger over the years and they stuck together. It was a humidly hot and sticky July day when Roslyn had carried her own basket of laundry down the tall staircase of their apartment building to do her weekly load of laundry with the coin operated washing machines in the building across the street. Steve had stood on the third floor balcony of their small three room apartment and watched her, reminiscing.

It was then Roz had noticed a fist fight between two men in an alley beside the laundromat.

One man was punching the other with great precision and accuracy while the other was jeering cockily at him, despite his imminent loss.

"Hey!" Roz yelled, placing her basket on the ground and attempting to break the fight up.

"What in the world are you two fellas doing?"

She grabbed the man in the lead's arm and tugged, trying to make him lose his hold on his opponent. Steve, realizing what was happening, sprinted out of their apartment and skidded down the stairs, hoping to pull Roslyn out of the line of fire. Sometimes she took things too far.

"Look broad, this ain't none of your business," the losing man bit out, not wanting to be saved by a woman. Roslyn's eyes narrowed at him and she abruptly dropped her hold on the two men and stepped away. "Well, by all means then: get your ass kicked." The men stopped to stare at her for her curse before returning to their fight. Roz even cheered on the man who was punching the lights out of the male who spoke to her. When Steve reached them, he looked unsurprised at Roz, knowing her temper.

"Really?" He asked her incredulously. "Not going to even try?" Steve nodded his head in the direction of the fist fight.

"Nope. He can get beat up for being a sexist pig."

Steve sighed and shook his head amusedly at her before he turned to the fight and tried to get them to break it up. Roz knew that there was nothing she could do to get Steve to give up so she watched, even cheered a little, until the men finally gave up. The man who had sneered at her scurried away, his tail between his legs. The man who came out on top leaned against an alley wall, breathing heavily. Steve walked labouredly back to Roslyn and she fussed over his new bruises, however, for the most part Steve seemed to be in better shape compared to the other man.

He sat against the wall, out of breath. Every visible inch of skin was cut or bruised and it looked as if he may need stitches for a few. Steve and Roz shared a look before they both grabbed one of his arms and helped the man up the four sets of stairs to their apartment, ignoring the man's protests.

Roz unlocked the door while Steve buckled under the other man's weight. Once the door was open, they quickly helped him inside and layed him onto the modest couch Roz and Steve shared.

Steve left the room to search for some painkillers. Roslyn undid the man's shirt and began to clean his chest with a wet rag, using some bottled water (the tap water is not very clean).

The man caught her eye as she worked and let out a small chuckle, "You should at least let me buy you dinner first." His head was tipped back to meet the couch so he glanced at her from the bottom of his eyes.

Roz just smiled. "Do I get a name to go with that cheesy line?"

The male let out a hearty laugh at her quip, "James Buchanan Barnes at your service ma'am."

Roz grinned like Cheshire cat and cleaned a particularly deep cut on his chest, making him wince slightly. "Nice to meet you Barn Owl, I'm Roslyn Winchester and that strapping young gentleman over there is Steve Rogers." She nodded her head to the door as Steve returned with the small bottle of pills, his cheeks resembling a tomato from her comment. Roslyn grinned cheekily at his reaction, never missing a chance to exploit how easily Steve got embarrassed.

Steve did his best to ignore her and handed James a glass of water and two painkillers. Roz left to find her first aid kit and returned with a needle and industrial strength thread, something she had nicked from the orphanage before it was shut down. She sat on the cushion beside James before she practically sat on him.

"Hey! Whatcha doing there?" James flirted, a little caught off guard. Roz ignored him to look at Steve, "He heavily drugged yet?" Steve only nodded in response. She nodded with a very concentrated expression on her face before she threaded the needle and began stitching one of the three very deep lacerations James had earned when the other man had taken thrown him to the ground, scraping himself on broken glass. James winced and moaned a little as she worked but for the most part the drugs helped to take the edge off. When she was finished Steve passed her a roll of guaze to which she took and fastened over the new stitches to help stem blood flow and keep them from becoming infected.

Steve got up to take his nightly medication and left Roz and James alone in the room.

He turned to her with curiousity. "How do you know this stuff?"

Roz sighed and moved over to the seat beside him and tipped her head back to rest on the top of the couch before she answered. "Steve is a little hard-headed. His heart's in the right place but sometimes he takes standing up to a bully too far. Then he usually gets the shit kicked out of him and I have to patch him up, it's sort of become an endless cycle. Besides Steve's kidney failure, we can't really afford health care so I make do. Medicine has always interested me anyways."

James was a little surprised that a gal had swore but he nodded along to her short explanation. Steve seemed like the type to never give up.

"You been living with your boyfriend long?"

Roz kinda looked like someone had hit her in the face with a base ball bat, "Steve and I a couple?" She burst into laughter and it took a couple of minutes to recover. Once she had somewhat regained her composure she explained her outburst. "No, I assure you that we are not together. We're best friends, we met in an orphanage we both lived in." James just smiled softly.

Steve chose that moment to join the both of them and James decided to ask what had been needling him, "Why did you guys help me out? You don't even know me." Roz just shrugged,

"I've already got one idiot who picks fights, why bt another?"

James looked pointedly at Steve, "Don't look at me pal, I go where she goes." Satisfied with their answer, he let it go.

Steve piped up, "Why were you fighting that guy anyway?"

James chuckled darkly, "He was mocking my sister."

Roz smiled, "It must be nice for her to have someone who loves her enough to fight for her."

James shook his head sadly, pausing for a second. "She passed away a couple of years ago from tuberculosis."

Roz and Steve got quiet at that. There was a small silence before Steve spoke up, "My mother as well. Back when I was 16, that was when I went to the orphanage where I met Roz."

Roz cleared her throat after a few more seconds of awkward silence before she brought the group back to the present. "You have any place to stay for the night, James?"

James winced and shook his head, "Not really."

Steve smiled, "You can take the couch, we don't mind. It's getting late anyhow."

James smiled gratefully before Roz pulled him into a gentle hug and Steve grabbed An extra pillow and blanket from a nearby closet. He took the blankets gratefully and settled in for the night. Steve bid him goodnight and made for his room but Roz hung behind for a few seconds, "I'm sorry about your sister."

"Me too."

She made for the doorway and turned off the light.

"Goodnight, James."

"You too Roz." James paused for a moment before he spoke again, "Roz?"

"Yeah?"

"Call me Bucky."

"Goodnight, Bucky."


	4. Karma Police

A/N- I have been working on a few ideas for this story, so while it may not seem like it for the next while there will be eventual Steve/Roz, so just keep your shorts on 'cause I'm thinking of plot twistin' a lil.

* * *

Back to the chapter-

Time crept on and the bonds between the trio grew even stronger. Bucky eventually moved into the apartment with Steve and Roslyn, sharing a room with Steve because his was the largest of the three. Years passed by without incident, well relatively no incident.

Bucky and Steve got along famously, and soon were as close as Steve was with Roslyn.

Roz and Bucky had a different relationship altogether: Bucky flirted, Roz mocked him, then Bucky pretended to be hurt and Roslyn made him laugh. They maintained a sort of process that worked for them, and as a result Roz was closer to Bucky than Steve. Everyone was happy with how things worked.

Unbeknownst to Roz and Steve, Bucky had decided to enlist on his twenty-second birthday.

That day he went to walk Roz home from work and buy her some ice cream to butter her up so she wouldn't murder him for keeping it a secret. The woman has a soft spot for sugar.

He briskly walked to the hardware store Roz worked ar and opened the door with one fluid motion. It was near closing time so he was a little surprised to hear shouting coming from aisle five.

"You cannot be serious! I am NOT made of GLASS!" He heard a familiar voice yell.

Bucky hurried towards the aisle as he sensed a Roz-rage coming on. Those were hazardous.

Bucky found Roz standing on a cardboard box with an intimidating glare set into her face. Her boss stood a few feet from her with a murderous look in his eye, "It is not the place of a woman to be lifting heavy objects off the top shelf Miss Winchester!"

"The hell it is!"

Her boss seemed relatively unpgased by her foul language, despite how rare it was to hear for a woman Roz had always had a potty mouth.

Roz jumped from her box and started towards him angrily, readily to scream the house down in anger at the sexist treatment she was receiving. Bucky sighed and walked towards her, thre her over her shoulder and began to walk out the door, "My apologies sir, she's seem to have had a rough day." Roz punched him in the jaw for that from her awkward position on his shoulder, her slight and slender frame packed a whallop regardless of her size, "Shut it asshat."

Bucky sent an apologetic grin towards her boss before he carried her from the store.

Once he had turned the corner a block away from her job he let her down and prepared to face her wrath. "How dare you!" She slapped him in the face. Bucky took it without blinking, she didn't mean it she was just too hot headed to think straight. She kept rambling on about women's rights and how wearing a skirt did not make her disabled to which he totally agreed with, but he had heard it yelled at him too many times to count to take it very seriously. Finally tiring of her repetitive speech, he bent his head to her level and captured her lips with his, momentarily silencing her. For a second she froze, but a moment later she responded to his ministrations with vigor, her anger completely forgotten. She rested her arms on his shoulders as she stood on her tiptoes and ran her hands through his hair, deepening the kiss. When they eventually broke apart she looked up at him, a little dazed. It took a moment for her to regain her composure but when she did she spoke up, "Well you certainly took your sweet time." She smiles at him gently and took his hand and he returned her smile.

"I figured we might stop for ice cream on our way home." Bucky suggested. Roz smiled gratefully and they walked in comfortable silence.

Once the had purchased a few cones, they sat at a small table outside of the parlour, eating.

When he finished he stood up to throw away their used napkins before he sat with her at the table and gathered his thoughts.

"So I enlisted."

Roz's eyes widened but she stayed calm, "And?"

"Sergeant James Barnes reporting for duty, I ship out tomorrow morning."

Her eyes filled with tears but she held them in, nodding at his news. She took a moment to gather herself before she spoke again, forcing a smile onto her face, "So. Got any plans this evening, Sergeant?"

He sighed and nodded, and explained that unfortunately he'd promised a few girls he worked with down at the grocery store that he'd accompany them to the Stark Expo. Roz was okay with it and said she'd go with Steve.

And that was how Roz Winchester and Steve Rogers found themselves at the enlistment office in Stark Expo.

Steve and Roz were towed into separate assessment rooms as they waited to complete their physical.

For Roz, she'd never really considered joining the army, it was obly after she realized that with Bucky gone and Steve enlisting that she would be on her own.

While that fact in an of itself was a majorly contributing factor of her decision to attempt to enlist, there was also a part of her who wanted to prove that women were just as capable as men- and what better way to do that than to protect and risk her life for her country?

For a few minutes she sat in the small curtained room, examining the posters on the walls simply for something to do.

Before long, a balding man with a thick german accent entered the little room and calmly introduced himself. "Hello Ms. Winchester. I am Doctor Abraham Erskine." He told her his name with a polite incline of his head.

"Pleasure to meet your acquaintance, sir." Roz greeted him formally, slipping into her business persona with ease.

"So you want to go overseas to fight with our troops."

Roz only nodded at his statement. "Indeed."

His quirked an eyebrow at her as he paged through the forms she had filled out earlier. "Why? Why would a young, pretty woman want to fight with the boys?" His voice filled with generous curiousity.

It was Roz's turn to quirk an eyebrow at him. "My family is dead, my best friends are shipping out over seas and my employer treats me like an invalid because I wear a skirt. This young woman has many reasons to enlist, one of which is to prove a woman is capable of just as much as a man."

Dr. Erskine gave her a genuine smile and then turned his attention back to his clipboard. "Women are not usually permitted to enlist, but there are a few rare exceptions. I can offer you one chance."

Roz only nodded, "When do we ship out?"


	5. Bite My Tongue

Roz and Steve shipped out the next morning and arrived at base later that night. The next morning they were called to attention regardless of their exhaustion.

While Steve shared facilities with the other men, Roslyn had her own quarters as she was one of the very few women in base. That morning Roz woke early to the sound of the horn and quickly dressed, wrinkle-less shirt, cargo pants and a pair of combat boots, a helmet tucked under one arm. The woman hurried to rollcall and was exactly on time. The recruits were all in a horizontal line when they were called to attention by a short, voluptuous lady were dark brown hair and darkly painted lips. She wore a brown military dress and was rather decorated with metals and badges. "Gentlemen," she glanced over at her and Roz could've sworn a smile ghosted across her lips when the lady's eyes met hers. "-And lady, I am Agent Carter. I supervise all operations for this division."

It was then that a pompous man a few feet away from Roz, spoke up. "What's with the accent Queen Victoria? I thought I was signing up for the US army." He flashed a self-satisfied grin at Agent Carter, who looked less than impressed.

"What's your name soldier?"

He cocked his back and rolled his neck with a seemingly bored fashion, "Gilmore Hodge, your majesty."

Agent Carter's face remained emotionless as she ordered him to put his right foot forward.

"Hm, we gonna wrassel 'Cause I've got a few moves I know you'll like."

It was then that the woman promptly launched her fist into his nose, knocking the egotistical soldier to the ground, blood spraying across his face from the hit on his nose.

It took everything in Roz not to burst into a fit of laughter, she even spied Steve letting out a grin at the Agent's excellent response. As it was, Roz settled for smirking at her fellow soldier, not sparing him a second glance. No man without a healthy respect for females was going to capture her attention.

A senior officer approached accompanied by a jeep full of weaponry. "I can see that you are breaking in the new candidates. That's good!"

The man turned a glare to Hodge'd direction, "Get your ass up out of that dirt and stand on that line until somebody tells you what to do."

He addressed the rest of the group after throwing in his own piece of mind to Hodge.

"General Patton says that wars are fought with weapons, but they are won by men. We are going to win this war because we have the best..." The officer stopped in front of Roz and looke her straight in the eye before continuing his pacing up and down the line and finishing his statement. "-men." The officer stopped at Steve next, and directed his next comment at him, "And because they are going to get better."

When it came time for training, Steve lagged behind at the back of the group while Roz was just in front of him. The men gave the two of them a hard time during their drills- the fact that Roz was a beautiful woman was irrelevant when she made it plainly obvious she wasn't interested.

When it came time for their jog while carrying heavy packs, Steve and Roslyn were well behind the others.

When the group finally made it to the half-way point the Sergeant announced that whoever managed to bring down the flag at the top of the pole would get a ride back in the Jeep, the men all began jumping wildly at it, desperate from the need to rest.

Steve made to join them when Roz grabbed his arm, "Wait. I have a plan." Steve looked uncertain but trusted her judgement, Roz had never led him wrong.

When the men from their troop began walking away from the pole, Roz beckoned Steve over and she released the peg at the bottom of the pole that was holding it upright. At first, the pole was a little stuck, so Steve helped her push the slightly rusted pole from its hole and the flag was on the ground with the rest of the metal pole. The group watched with open mouths as Steve and Roz carried the flag together over to the Jeep and got in, sitting beside a smirking Agent Carter. The vehicle drove off, leaving the rest of the group in the dust behind them.

The agent turned to them, "That was an interesting approach. Do you two work together often?"

Steve nodded, smiling bashfully at Roz, "Yes. She's my best friend, we went to the same orphanage."

Roz returned his grin before staring straight ahead at the road in front of them, looking forward to the bed that awaited her after such a long day.

The next morning brought Roz to the camp mess hall by herself, unfortunately Steve had orders to go fix the chickenwire he mangled during drills in the mud pitt.

She had almost a whole table to herself, despit the fact that the building was almost full.

The men weren't sure how to receive a woman at the same rank as them so they often chose to simply let her be. Only one male sat at her table, and he was situated on the far end and never made eye contact with her.

When Roz finished she picked up her plate and marched over to the sink to hand it to the kitchen staff, as she walked back through the mess hall, Gilmore Hodge decided to make his presence known. "What's a delicate, pretty little thing like you doing with all the big boys, hmm?" He drawled as he walked over to her. Hodge stepped in front of her to block her path but she just walked around him.

Hodge swayed again to get in her as he let out his next line, "Why don't you go help out in the kitchen where you belong, dollface?"

Hodge had played on the short temper that Roz maintained and she wasn't going to have any of it. "Move along, soldier." She intoned forcefully.

"Don't think so dollface, I actually have a right to be here unlike your delicate ass."

Roz placed her right foot forward and kneed him in the balls before she sprang on his back and kicked him to the ground with little energy. With her elbow pressed threateningly into the main artery in his neck she grinned toothily. "I may be more slender than your mug but I'm just as tall as you with three times the fighting experience. Did you honestly expect a girl from Brooklyn to know nothing about how to fight? How... unrealistic of you." She sneered.

Roz stood at nearly 6 feet, so she was by no means short. Hodge really didn't have that much of a siz difference on her, she was more lean.

The men around her were shocked to say the least at how easy she took him down. When Roslyn finally released him he took a few steps back, trying not to show that he was intimidated by her. Roz knew better. "And you will call me Winchester, not dollface or I will show you how 'delicate' I can be." She turned on her heel, leaving a stunned crowd in her wake. What she didn't notice, however, was that Dr. Erskine and Colonel Phillips were sharing looks of satisfaction. Sometimes the army needed a little womanly fire to get the job done.

"So I heard you gave Hodge quite the beat down earlier." Steve prompted, wheezing as they ran their drills while talking.

"Depends what you mean by 'beat down', but yes I gave him more than a stern handshake to introduce myself." Roz tried not to grin but Steve saw through it.

"I'm certain you did. I seem to recall you as the one to pick fights with the boys in the orphanage over leaving me alone."

Roz merely grunted in response as she tripped over a small rock but quickly regained her footing.

Steve grinned to himself, not at all surprised at her behaviour. Oh if Bucky could see her now he would likely give her a high five.

In Steve's mind he definitely deserved it.


	6. Of Mice and Men

"Faster ladies, come on! My grandmother has more life in her, god rest her soul." Agent Carter paced the line of men and Roslyn as they panted and grunted while doing intense pushups.

A little ways away, Colonel Phillips was discussing the candidates who sweated in front of them with Dr. Erskine.

"You're not seriously considering picking Rogers, are you? The girl I could see, but him?"

Erskine shot him a benign smile, flipping through a few pages on the clipboard he held.

"I am not just thinking about it, those two are the clear choice."

Phillips sighed and turned away from the group to look at the back of a truck full of weapons. "When you brought a 90 asthmatic and a fiery tempered beanpole girl to my base, I let it slide. I thought what the hell? Maybe they'd be useful to you like a pair of gerbils. I never thought you'd pick her- and him, for that matter."

Erskine looked wholely unsurprised at Phillips' speech- it was nothing unlike what he had heard for the past week. "I am looking for abilities beyond the physical."

Phillips looked over at the group and nodded towards one of the bigger men. "Look at Hodge, he's passed every test we've thrown at him, he's fast, he's strong- he's a soldier."

"He is a bully."

"You don't win wars with niceness, doctor. You win wars with guts."

With that, Phillips plucked a dummy grenade on the ground and pulled the pin yelling 'GRENADE' at the group of men (and woman).

Steve and Roslyn looked at each other for one second before he dove on top of it in a fetal position. Roz grabbed the metal covering of a nearby trascan lid and crouched a few yards away, the lid in front of her for protection.

After a few seconds of nothing happening, they realized the grenade was a dummy.

"All clear. Get back in formation." Phillips declared, avoiding Erskine's gaze.

"He's still skinny." Phillips defended himself.

Steve was sitting with Roz outside her personal quarters as they watched the stars together, making jokes and remembering their time at the orphanage. It was then that Doctor Erskine made his appearance, "Can't sleep?"

Roz gave a quick shake to her head, "I haven't been able to sleep since my... boyfriend enlisted, this is nothing new."

Even though Roz was in the army as well, it didn't lower her worries over him in the slightest.

Dr. Erskine nodded in understanding, and it was another few moments before he spoke again. "Yes, the war has taken its toll on everyone. Some more than others."

Erskine sat with them and watched as Steve pointed out Orion's belt to them, simply appraising their attitudes toward each other. It was blaringly obvious that Steve held feelings for the young woman, even if he might not be aware of them himself. It was all in how he moved around her; the soft look in his eyes when he looked at her, how he supported even her more dangerous decisions and even in how attentive he was towards her, like she was the centre of his universe. The one thing keeping him grounded.

Which is not to say Steve's affection was one-sided, not in the least. It was all in the gentle gestures she subconsciously gave him, a friendly hug here, a comforting smile there. She had love-struck written all over her, even though she had yet to recognize that her boyfriend wasn't the one she was looking for.

And although Abraham Erskine may not be exactly an expert when it comes to love, he noticed the signs. They acted exactly as him and his late wife once did before she was cruelly taken from him. For their sake, he hoped they would realize their feelings before it was too late.

Steve eventually turned to the doctor in deep thought. "Can I ask you a question?"

Erskine smiled, "I believe that was one, but by all means ask another."

"Why us? Why me?"

It was the doctor's turn to cock his head in thought. "Why not you?"

Steve shook his head and explained, "I mean, I'm a shrimp with more health issues than I weigh. And Roz here- I appreciate that you have chosen her as well, but not many would've given a woman an opportunity in this. So, why pick us?"

Erskine chuckled, as if he had an inside joke that the two wouldn't understand, "The serum will make you big. It will give your cells seemingly unlimited regeneration abilities, erasing any ailments. You will become healthy, fit, strong and impressive. What I cannot change is the person inside. With my work, I can alter an individual until they are almost unrecognizable but I cannot reprogram what makes them a human."

He turned to catch Roz's eyes as he delivered his next line, "Therefore, I am not looking for someone who is big or someone who is strong, I only look for those with kind hearts- those who, i given this great power- will put it to good use. That is why I chose you two."

For a while afterwards the three simply talked about the camp from their various standpoints- Erskine from his high position as a doctor, Steve at his point of view as a small soldier and Roz from being the only female soldier. While each stood at very different places in the camp, each shared the same view- it was merely a stepping stone that led towards the big picture. They all must endure it, but in the end it was just something they had to get through to move onto bigger and better things.

Agent Carter, Roz and Steve sat in the back of a taxi with Steve in the middle seat since he was the smallest. The taxi driver honked at a passing car and Steve peered ou of the window looking for conversation material. "I know this neighborhood. I got beat up in that alley. And that parking lot. And behind that diner."

Agent Carter turned to him and cocked her head to the side in contemplation, "Did you have something against running away?"

"You start running, they'll never let you stop."

At this, Roz rolled her eyes affectionately and blewed a piece of hair out of her face before piping up, "Steve always has been a stubborn ass about things like that. It's endearing, frankly." Steve looked at her with a slight smile and shook his head, too used to her antics to be bothered by her comment.

The driver rolled to a stop in front of an old antique store.


End file.
